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Iowa Utilities Board / Office of Consumer Advocate

Located on a six-acre site that was once moldering landfill in Des Moines, a new complex for the Iowa Utilities Board and Office of Consumer Advocate is defying notions about what civic buildings look like, one sunlit, sustainably designed office at a time. This was all part of the two state agencies' plan to become models of energy efficiency and educate the community at large. The Des Moines office of Kansas City, Missouri'based BNIM was hired to accomplish these goals. 'Our general design philosophy is 'resolve, rigor, and restraint,' ' explains project architect Carey Nagle, describing the approach the firm took for this building, which came with a tight budget.

The result of BNIM's judicious strategy is a 44,700-square-foot building comprising two wings joined by a central lobby. The north wing, the larger of the two, contains the offices of the Iowa Utilities Board; the Office of Consumer Advocate occupies the south wing. BNIM designed the building to achieve an energy savings of 60 percent over the region's code baseline requirements and for optimum user comfort: the precast-concrete panels cladding the building are punctuated by large windows that allow daylight in and views out. Long and low, the office building has a quiet aesthetic that is meant to respect the older buildings in the nearby capitol complex, all while presenting a modest face for the agencies. 'We tried to meet the client's needs simply, with sustainable and traditional design,' explains Nagle.